The Most Important Thing
by Enmy
Summary: Akira wants a rival and not just anyone. He wants Hikaru. Hikaru however is not interested because he doesn’t want rivalry without friendship. To get what he wants, Akira has to give Hikaru something that the boy would accept, his friendship.


**The Most Important Thing**

_Akira wants a rival and not just anyone. He wants Hikaru. Hikaru however is not interested because he doesn't want rivalry without friendship. To get what he wants, Akira has to give Hikaru something that the boy would accept, his friendship._

**Author's note:** _I wrote this story because I wanted a story where Hikaru and Akira are friends since they weren't really friends in the manga and I wanted to get more of the Haze's go club, which is completely left out in the manga after Hikaru becomes an insei._

_So here it is: Hikaru is not an insei and he's not going to become one, yet he's good enough for Akira to consider him a rival._

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Hikaru no go (sigh)_

It was a rainy day in spring when Touya Akira's life began to have a meaning. The young go player thought he knew what he wanted from his life and he did know but there seemed to be something missing.

Touya Akira was the son of the famous go pro Touya Kouyo, a 5 titles holder also known as Touya Meijin in the go world. Akira had been following on his father's footsteps ever since he started playing go at the age of 3 and now he was a young 13 year old prodigy, admired by everyone in the go world for his talent. He wasn't a pro yet though he could easily defeat most of the pros of lower dan level.

That day Akira went at his father's go salon after school as usual. He would spend there a few hours every day studying kifus, recreating games and sometimes playing shidougo with the old men who came there.

Suddenly the door opened and a boy of his age entered. He was wet from the rain and he asked Ichikawa-san, the woman at the counter if he could stay there till the rain stopped.

"I'll just have a seat in the back so I don't disturb anyone" he said heading for the room in the back which seemed to be empty. He took a seat at a table near the window and stared absentminded outside.

Akira finished the game he was recreating from a book and saw the boy. He hadn't seen him in the salon before in fact the boy didn't even look like a go player. He had black hair and bleached bangs and was wearing a black school uniform.

"Would you like to play a game?" Akira started the conversation.

"Huh?" The boy turned around absentminded.

"I asked if you want to play a game." Akira repeated.

"No thanks, I'm just waiting for the rain to stop so I can go home." He answered in a low voice that betrayed the pain he was in, but Akira didn't notice. The boy put his head in his palms and started looking outside again.

"Are you going to just sit there till the rain stops?"

"Aha."

_He's a weird kid_, Akira thought._ He entered a go salon to hide from the rain when he could have entered a shop or something and besides, the train station is just a few meters away, he could have taken a train home_.

"It's ok if you don't know how to play, I'll teach you." Akira insisted.

"No thanks, I know how to play."

"Then let's play a game."

"Are you going to leave me alone if I don't?" The boy turned around to look Akira in the eyes and he seemed a bit annoyed.

"No."

"I thought so. I have no money to pay the fee though."

"That's ok. This one is on me."

They started the game and Akira played white. They placed stone after stone and Akira realized that his opponent wasn't a beginner. Ever since the beginning, the game was close. Akira couldn't gain territory without giving something to his opponent, however he managed to gain an advantage. Then the bleached boy made a move that Akira counted as a mistake at first but he knew better than to underestimate his opponents, so he took his time to look deeper into the game and figured out a part of the other boy's plan. Akira didn't read deep enough though and soon he saw the result as he lost his advantage.

The game entered yose and soon after that the bleached boy stopped with the hand holding the stone in midair.

"The rain stopped" he said "I have to go now." He put the stone down and left for the door but Akira followed him.

"Hey! Aren't you going to finish what you started?"

"You won, what else do you want?" Akira glared at him. Was it possible that he already knew the score?

"What's your name?" asked Akira giving the boy a stern look.

"Hikaru."

"Hikaru who?" he asked again but the boy didn't answer, he just left.

Akira went back in the salon and analyzed the game, reading deeper he realized that Hikaru was right. He won with 0.5 moku. Who was this boy who could read so deep into the game? Akira was definitely going to find out the answer to that question.

-

Akira was standing in front of Haze Junior High. He recognized the uniform Hikaru was wearing so he knew where to start looking for him. He assumed that since the bleached boy was so good he would be in the school's go club so that would be a perfect place to start looking.

"Excuse me" he said as he bowed to a teacher "Could you tell me where the go club is?"

"The go club is in the chemistry lab, go in on the main entrance and turn right."

"Arigatou gozamasu."

The chemistry lab's door was wide open so Akira looked around but the boy with blonde bangs wasn't there.

"Do any of you know a boy named Hikaru?" he asked.

"You mean Shindou Hikaru?" a girl with dark pink hair asked.

"I don't know his other name. He's a boy with bleached hair."

"Hum, that's Shindou all right" said a red haired boy.

"Where is he?" asked Akira

"Don't know. Haven't seen him all week" answered the same boy.

"Who shall we say was looking for him?" asked the girl but Akira had already left.

_That's weird, yesterday he was wearing his uniform but it seems that he didn't go to school. Anyway I didn't find him but at least I know his name now._

He decided to go to the go salon for the rest of the day and try again tomorrow. He took the usual train and when he got off he saw him. The boy with bleached bangs was sitting on a bench in the train station. He went closer but the other boy didn't seem to have noticed him, he seemed sad and absentminded.

"Shindou Hikaru where have you been? I've been looking all over for you." Akira said frustrated.

Hikaru looked up at him and made a bored face. "Oh, it's you again."

"Come with me." It was an order and since Hikaru didn't move Akira grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the go salon.

"Hey, what are you doing? Let me go!" shouted Hikaru annoyed.

"Not until you play me again." Hikaru freed himself from the grip and stopped.

"I won't play you." Akira turned around and saw Hikaru's head tucked down, bleached bangs hiding his eyes and his hands were fisted.

"Why?"

"Because you are just an annoying selfish kid who doesn't care about anything else but himself and that stupid game. You know nothing about the real life, about death…Sai…" Hikaru stopped shouting, tears began to fall down his cheeks and his hands were trembling. "Just leave me alone."

Akita thought hard about Hikaru's words. Was he really selfish, annoying and obsessed with go? Maybe he was. After all he didn't even notice that the other boy was troubled or maybe he saw but he didn't care.

The boy was a good player and he wanted to play him again but Touya Akira wasn't the kind of person who knew how to deal with people in situations like this. In fact he only knew how to deal with people in front of a go board everything else is just an act. He was polite with the elders because that's how he was taught to be and he's cold with the kids of his age because those who know him don't like him.

-

The next day Akira went again to Haze Junior High just in time to see the bleached boy leaving the school with the girl and two boys he recognized from the go club.

"Shindou!" he said.

"What do you want? Oh, I know what you want. Forget I asked." Hikaru dismissed him with a gesture and turned to leave followed by his friends.

"Do you know him Hikaru? He came looking for you at the club the other day" asked the girl.

"I don't know him, not really, we played a game a few days ago and he's been bugging me ever since" answered Hikaru annoyed. He didn't really want to deal with Akira right now.

"Touya Akira desu" Akira gave him the answer to his unasked question.

"Whatever."

The red haired boy lost his temper "Can't you see that he doesn't want to play you? We're trying to cheer him up here and you are just standing in the way, making things worse. Come on guys let's go to the usual place and play some team go." He started walking away dragging Hikaru with him.

"Mitani Yuki, what part of I don't want to go you don't understand?" shouted Hikaru.

"You're coming and that's final."

Team go, that meant that they were going to a salon and Akira would get his chance to challenge Hikaru. He decided to follow them from the distance.

"By the way Hikaru, what happened? You didn't come to school all week, I was worried. When I called your home your mom said that she asked you to buy something for her after school and you weren't home yet. Why were you skipping school?" started the girl a bit worried.

"Yeah, we missed you in the club. Tsutsui is good but I can't improve with him. What can I do if Shindou sensei is ditching me?" teased the red haired boy.

"So _you_ told my mom that I didn't come to school, Akari. I lost my allowance for one month and I have to do all the homework I didn't do."

"Datte Hikaru, I was worried" she pouted.

Fujisaki Akari wasn't only Hikaru's classmate she was his childhood friend. They used to play in the park together when they were children and they would always look after each other. When they started school Hikaru said that he had a reputation to maintain so he couldn't be seen with girls but they still went home together sometimes and helped each other with their homework….well, Akari helped Hikaru with math and history and Hikaru helped her to improve her go skills.

"You're worse than my mom Akari."

-

Hikaru and his friends entered the go salon they used to go to every Friday after school. They were really known there and the owner would allow them to play free sometimes since they brought more customers every Friday. They were all better than the old geezers there (except for Akari) and everyone wanted to improve their skills playing with them.

Today however there was a strange trio making a lot of noise in the salon. Well, one of them was making a lot of noise, a boy with brown, messy hair.

"They say they're insei" said the owner when Tsutsui asked what was going on.

"Insei? What's that?" asked Hikaru innocently.

"You don't know what an insei is you dimwit?" said Mitani.

"How am I supposed to know Shira_yuki_?" teased Hikaru, hands on his hips.

"I can't believe you're such a good player, yet you know nothing about the go world."

"Why don't we play them?" asked Tsutsui who wanted to finish this conversation before they started a fight.

"Good idea. Shindou you're the first board, Tsutsui-sempai you're second and I'm third." The red haired boy seemed to have taken the leader's position in their team.

"Are you sure, Mitani-kun? I mean you're better than I am."

"And _they_ are better than us. If we want to win against them we have to make some changes."

The owner was happy to host such an event. It wasn't every day that he had inseis in the salon and they would play with the place's favorite team.

"Hey boys, there's a team here who wants to challenge you!" he told the inseis smiling.

"Bring them on! So what do you want to bet on?" said the boy with messy hair looking in the boys' general direction.

"I don't think we should bet with them Waya, they're only kids, it wouldn't be fair" said the oldest of the inseis who seemed to be more rational.

"Why do you have to spoil all the fun Isumi? Don't you want to play for free?" then the boy named Waya turned to his other friend "Help me Honda, get some sense into our first captain here."

"Isumi's right Waya, we should just play this time."

"We accept the bet" interrupted Mitani "The winner plays for free today and the looser pays."

"Fine."

They all took their places Isumi was first board against Hikaru, Waya second against Tsutsui and Honda third against Mitani. After nigiri Hikaru and Mitani got black while Tsutsui was white.

The game was hard. Hikaru couldn't help but notice that the inseis were much stronger than the old guys they played there before. His opponent was giving him a hard time forcing him to read deeper than he was used to when he played in the salon.

The only strong opponents he had faced before were that boy Touya Akira and Sai. Sai was his teacher, his mentor, his friend, he was the one who taught Hikaru everything he knew about go, starting with the basics of how to hold a stone properly, then solving life and death problems reading deeper into the game. He couldn't beat Sai for years, Sai was simply too strong for him and even though Hikaru knew that Sai wasn't an ordinary go player he couldn't help but be disappointed every time Sai chopped him into peaces. He used to tell Sai that he won't play anymore if he couldn't win and Sai used to smile and tell him that he had improved. That cheered him up a bit. As the years passed Hikaru noticed his improvement as his games with Sai were longer as it took Sai more time to finish him up.

Isumi made a move in a place where Hikaru wasn't expecting him to play. He stopped for a few minutes thinking what to do, what would Sai do in his place? Sai…That's when he realized that Sai wasn't gone and that he spent all that time crying for nothing. Sai was there, in his game. It was only then when he realized that after playing Sai for seven years his own game started to resemble Sai's and every time he was in a difficult situation he would think what kind of move would Sai do.

Touya Akira decided to enter the salon and demand the game he came for. He wasn't used to being refused, maybe that was the reason why he was so stubborn when he found himself in this situation.

The fact that everyone in the salon was gathered around a table watching made Touya curious. He was expecting people to talk and discuss the moves while watching the game, in salons nobody watched silently, that was why he always used the back room in his father's go salon, it was the only place where he didn't draw attention upon himself and where he wasn't interrupted.

He went closer to look and saw Hikaru and his friends playing some inseis. He recognized them from the Go Institute. One of them, Yoshitaka Waya couldn't stand him and his remarks made Akira believe that Waya hated him more than other go players of their age.

Akira took a seat at one of the tables and waited for the game to end. He wasn't interested in Hikaru's game with Isumi Shinichiro _he_ was the only one who could measure Hikaru's strength.

"Makemashita." Akira heard Isumi say.

Short after that Honda resigned too, Tsutsui's game ended long before with his loss.

"We won!" Akari said happily "You were great Hikaru!"

"Well…yeah…" Hikaru was happy too. He felt a lot better after the game with the insei. He realized that there was no point in waiting for Sai to come back. Sai was gone but he left something behind, with Hikaru and now Hikaru had something to remind him of Sai, his go.

"That's Haze's go club to you" Mitani pointed out but Waya was too busy trying to defend himself while his partners accused him of stupidity.

"Now look what you've done Waya. They won and we have to pay." Isumi couldn't help being angry even though he was a calm and rational person most of time.

"How was I supposed to know that a bunch of amateurs and kids on top of that would beat us?"

"You wanted the bet, you pay" said Honda.

"Hey you can't do that to me, we're in this together!"

"We never agreed with the bet." They went on with it while the others commented the games. Some men went to recreate and discuss the games while others were praising their favorite team.

Akira stood up and walked towards Hikaru and his friends.

"Shindou Hikaru, I want a game with you." Everyone turned their heads to the boy whose presence hadn't been noticed until then.

'Isn't that Touya Akira, the Meijin's son?' some would whisper.

'What a day! First we get to play inseis then Shindou and Mitani beat them up and now Touya Akira is here to challenge Shindou.'

"Fine let's play" said Hikaru annoyed "But it's your challenge and my rules."

"Fine" answered Akira though he didn't know what Hikaru meant by 'his rules'.

Hikaru put two goke on a board "Let's play." Akira opened his goke, the stones were black, then Hikaru opened his goke too and his stones were black too. "That's white, let's nigiri."

_This is white? What's he talking about?_ _Does he want to play some sort of blind go?_

"You're black" said Hikaru "The rules are the same, white gets the komi."

The game was tough considering the fact that all the stones had the same color. Hikaru remembered the first time he played like this. He started to be better at the game but he couldn't remember the order in which the stones had been placed and that made it hard for Sai to explain him his mistakes since he couldn't remember when he had made the mistake and what occurred afterwards. That was when Sai challenged him to a one color go game.

The game went on, stone after stone and even though most of the people watching lost the track of the game the boys didn't stop until the end. Hikaru resigned in the yose. The board was nothing else but a big black cluster but the boys knew perfectly well the game within, Hikaru was going to lose. The difference was small but it was too late to turn the game around.

"I don't know how someone who isn't even an insei can be so good but I will surpass you. I won't wait for you to beat me." Akira turned around and left leaving a stunned Hikaru behind.

"What the Hell was that?" said Waya to no one in particular "He just comes in here and demands a game with this kid, then he talks like they're rivals or something."

"Well, he _is_ really good." Isumi pointed out.

"Huh? Never mind that, you're missing out the point here. Who does that goody-goody Touya think he is?" shouted Waya in frustration.

"You know him?" asked Hikaru.

"Duh, we're inseis, we play go, remember? Everyone who is in the world of go or even likes go has heard about him."

"You don't seem to like him." Hikaru pointed out.

"I hate him I hate the way he's looking down on others just because he's better. Not even Ochi deserved to be treated like that when he asked him to be his rival." Waya was so nervous that he didn't even realize that he was talking to Hikaru about a person the other boy didn't know.

"I don't know who Ochi is but I don't like him either, he's annoying." Waya calmed down a little.

"I think I'm starting to like you even though you beat us today. But hey, remember that we want a rematch, we have a reputation to maintain."

They decided to have a rematch same day next week and Honda came with the idea of having the rematch at the institute since it wasn't hard to find an empty room and some boards and besides it was for free so Waya would not be tempted to bet again.

Hikaru and his friends were happy to make new friends among inseis. This way they could play more challenging games and improve faster.

-

Nothing interesting happened the following week. Akira didn't look for Hikaru at the go club anymore and that was just fine with Hikaru. This way they could spend more time on discussing the games they had with the inseis without being disturbed.

On Friday they went to the Institute and arrived just in time to see the inseis coming out of the room where they had their games. Waya, Isumi and Honda were with some other fellow inseis and they were all paying attention to a small boy with glasses.

"Did you hear that Touya Akira had signed for the pro exam this year?" said the boy.

"Why would he do that now? He didn't seem to hurry with it" pointed out the only girl in the group.

"Isumi….do you think it's because of him?" Everyone turned to look at Waya.

"Do you know something Waya-kun?" asked the girl.

"Maybe we do" said Waya still waiting for Isumi's answer.

"Could be" answered Isumi.

"Could you be more explicit please?" The boy with glasses was loosing his patience.

"Last week Isumi, Waya and I went to a go salon to play go as a team against the people there. When we finished the first game some kids entered the salon and challenged us. They won. Then Touya came and challenged the one who played Isumi" explained Honda.

"Interesting….I want to see their game" demanded the boy with glasses.

"I don't think any of us can replay that" said Honda.

"Hump, you can't even reproduce a game and you call yourselves inseis." This remark annoyed Waya.

"It was a one colored go. You couldn't have followed that game either."

"One colored go?"

"Speaking of the devil, there they are." Waya saw Hikaru and his friends enter the Institute and went to greet them followed by his team mates. The others kept the distance but were still curious. "Hey Shindou, ready for the rematch?"

The boys were introduced to the inseis and they all went to find a free room to have their game. Just then Akira came, stopped for a second to look at Hikaru and went on. Hikaru noticed the determination in Akira's green eyes it was as if he wanted to prove something.

"What's with him?" he asked.

"Hump, he doesn't even know how to say hello" said Waya folding his arms across his chest.

After that the subject Touya Akira was closed for the rest of the day and the boys went to play their games.

Everyone noticed that the three amateurs were really good. Tsutsui's skills were as good as the top insei's from class 2 and Mitani was better than the average level in class 1 but the one who drew everyone's attention was Hikaru. He would play brilliantly then make a stupid mistake and with few more moves turn the mistake in his favor and cut Isumi's territory.

The boy with big, round glasses watched carefully the game between Shindou Hikaru and Isumi Shinichiro. Isumi was after all the best insei in the first class and he still lost to Shindou the first time. Ochi knew very well that Isumi never underestimated his opponents, not even the amateurs so the only explanation was that Shindou was good. No…he must be better than 'good' to draw Touya Akira's attention. After all Touya refused even him, Ochi Kousuke, the second best insei and also the youngest of them all, when he wanted to be his rival.

This time Hikaru's team wasn't so lucky, the only one who still won was Hikaru.

"Hah, we got you this time" said Waya happily "Too bad we didn't bet on it."

"Wait until we get better" puffed Mitani "We'll catch up with you!"

"Calm down Mitani-kun there's no reason to fight over a game. After all they _are_ better than us, you said it yourself." Tsutsui was always there to calm the spirits.

"Besides, you cheated!" said Waya.

"I did not!" Mitani shouted back "I haven't cheated in a long time." Everyone stared at him and Mitani became embarrassed.

"I didn't say about you" Waya continued amused "I was talking about your team."

"Huh?"

"Tsutsui is your worst player, you knew that and you put him second board so you could get a win with Honda."

"That's not cheating, there's no rule about how to choose the captains."

"You would have never won if you played me."

"That sounds like a challenge to me" said Mitani as a smile formed on his lips.

"Then I want to challenge someone too." Ochi, who stayed quiet until then, came in front "I challenge Shindou." _If he wins this game it means that I'm not worth of being Touya's rival._

Both Hikaru and Mitani accepted the challenge. The games started after the other inseis left. The only ones there were the players, Tsutsui and Isumi.

Hikaru started the game with a komoku in the lower left corner, Ochi answered at the upper left star and Hikaru attacked the upper right corner.

It didn't take more than ten moves for Hikaru to realize that Ochi wasn't as strong as Isumi but something in his moves told Hikaru that Ochi wanted to prove something. He was constantly attacking even when he should have defended first, could it be that he was afraid of losing and made desperate moves?

Ochi stopped for a minute studying his situation. He gained some territory in the upper left corner and the lower right corner was his but he totally lost the control in the center and that was his disadvantage, he lost.

"Makemashita" he whispered then left.

"Is he ok?" asked Hikaru a little worried. "He was really serious about this game."

"He'll be fine" Isumi assured him.

Soon after that Waya and Mitani finished their game too and Mitani lost with 2,5 moku.

"It's already over?" Waya looked surprised to see that Ochi was no longer there. "Where's Ochi?" he asked Isumi.

"In the bathroom I guess."

"He lost huh? He always locks himself in the bathroom when he loses a game" Waya explained. "I guess he wanted to prove himself that he _is_ worth of being Touya's rival but it didn't work that well."

-

The pro exam finished and Touya Akira passed first just as expected. The fact that the go prodigy decided to take the pro exam was a great event in the world of go so Amano-san from the Weekly go decided to write the article about the three new shodan himself. The next thing to take care of was an interview with Touya Meijin and Touya Akira himself and find out what had determined the Meijin's son to take the pro exam that year. Everyone had expected an announcement from Touya Akira or his father at least a year before the event and because of that the young Touya's presence on the list was shocking.

Amano always said that if you wanted something to be done well, you should do it yourself. That was the reason why he wanted to write all the articles about this event, including the one about the shodan series, himself.

The shodan series passed as well and Akira played a good game against Zama Ouza even though he lost.

The next thing Akira wanted to do was find Shindou again and make sure that the boy is aware of the big step he had just made. Finding the bleached boy wasn't a hard task these days since he spent a lot of time with his new friends Waya and Isumi.

He entered the Go Institute and just as he expected the five boys were there chatting happily.

"Shindou!"

"So you're still talking to me?" asked Hikaru raising an eyebrow "I suppose the cat got your tongue all this time." Waya couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Akira ignored him "I took the pro exam this week and I'm going to become better."

"Good for you."

"You should start now if you want to catch up with me."

"Catch up with you? I'm not chasing you, you were chasing me. You think that I want to be your rival? Well I don't." Touya Akira's eyes widened he didn't understand what was going on. He knew that any good player was aiming for something, he himself had a dream. He wanted to surpass his father. That was his dream ever since he was little and he worked hard to be as good as he is. Hikaru was almost as good as him and he couldn't have become what he was if he didn't have a dream.

"Don't you want to become a better player?" he asked.

"I do and I will but I'm aiming further than you."

"Do you already have a rival?"

"No, but I had a mentor and a friend. He is gone now but he is still my target."

"Why won't you play me? Am I not worthy of you?"

"You only want a rival but there are things more important in life than go and rivalry. My teacher taught me that. Don't misunderstand me, he loved go just as much as you do, go was his life too but he always put friendship above go. I'd rather play Waya and Isumi here than you." Akira fisted his hands and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Amano-san who came to ask for an interview.

"You really said it to him Shindou" said Waya happily "it was about time for someone Touya Akira considered worthy to appear and tell him that in his face. Come on I'll treat you with sushi."

"Ramen" pouted Hikaru.

"It's my treat and I say we're heaving sushi" shouted Waya.

"But we had sushi last time when Isumi treated, it's ramen time now."

"We can have ramen next time when _you_ treat."

"That's not fare…sempai should treat."

"Oh, so we're sempai now."

"Of course, Mitani and I don't have to treat since we're the youngest."

"The winner should decide what we'll have and the winner, meaning I say sushi."

"You won as a team so you should ask Isumi too since Honda left already. We'll have ramen, ne Isumi-san?"

Isumi sighed, there was no way to end this conversation without having a fight first and he didn't want to be a part of it.

"We can have sushi next time, Waya" he said a bit worried of the overcome of his statement.

"That's not fare…" Waya stopped when he saw Ochi approaching them. The youngest of the inseis in the first class seemed to feel better after his loss. He stopped in front of Hikaru and waited for the other boy to notice his presence.

"Why don't you want to be Touya's rival? You know that I would do anything to be in your place, to be noticed by him."

"Why do you want to be his rival so bad?"

"You wouldn't understand. Touya's life is go and so is mine. Our lives are meaningless if we don't play. We have that in common….and maybe more….that's why I want him to be my rival.

Hikaru was a bit shocked, he never thought Ochi could be so dense, but he smiled and said "Good luck then. Maybe when he gets used to the idea that I won't be his rival he'll reconsider."

"He won't" said Ochi more for himself than for the others, but Hikaru heard him.

"So then it's settled. We're having ramen."

-

Akira finished late with the interview. Amano had so many questions for him and he didn't want to answer all of them. There were some….personal things he didn't want to discuss with the press so he had to make up answers if he wanted to finish with it in one day.

He was waiting for the elevator when a familiar voice called his name.

"Akira-kun, have you finished for today?"

"Hai, Ogata sensei" he answered politely though Seiji Ogata was the last person he wanted to see that day.

"Do you have anything else scheduled for today?"

"Iie, I'm heading home."

"Would you like to go for a drink? I know a nice place not far from here."

"I should really go home."

"Why? Your parents are in China again aren't they? And there is something I wanted to talk to you about. Don't worry I'll take you home later."

They have been driving for a few silent minutes when Ogata spoke again. "You had a good game at the first dan series."

"I lost." Akira pointed out.

"Zama Ouza is a much more experienced player, but considering the circumstances it was a good game."

"Thank you."

"Tell me Akira-kun…what do you know about those kids who come at the institute every week? They're not insei are they?"

"I don't know much."

"Well then, let me tell you. They are all very good players but one of them interests me in particular. His name is Shindou" Akira's hands fisted on his knees but his face didn't show any emotion at all. The gesture however didn't go unnoticed. "I heard that he even won against Shinichiro Isumi who is one of the best insei at the moment."

The car stopped and they both entered the café.

"Tell me Akira-kun what happened between you and Shindou?" asked Ogata while they were waiting for their orders: Coffee for Ogata and green tea for Akira.

"Nothing, I don't even know Shindou Hikaru." Akira almost shouted and his hands were trembling on his knees.

"Hikaru? I never mentioned his first name. So you do know him. I see, so that's why you decided to become a pro so suddenly. You think of him as a rival maybe…." There was no reason for Akira to hide anymore, Ogata knew too much and he was also very good at finding what he wanted to know.

"He is not interested" said Akira and Ogata suddenly became very interested in details.

"What do you mean?"

"He told me he would rather play Isumi-san or Waya-san rather that me."

"They are his friends now, aren't they? He only plays his friends and that bothers you" it was a statement not a question.

"I don't care, I will continue to play the best at my father's study group and that's enough for me."

"Is it? Touya sensei's study group didn't make you take the pro exam" Ogata pointed out.

"If you don't mind Ogata sensei, I would like to go home now."

-

The next day Akira decided to finish the conversation that was interrupted the other day by Amano-san. He was angry. How could a boy like Shindou Hikaru talk to him like that in front of those insei.

He went to Haze Junior High's go club and opened the door without knocking he looked around and found Hikaru arguing with Mitani for some reason.

"Shindou!" he shouted.

"Touya? What are you doing here?"

"How dare you talk to me like that?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? What did I say?"

"Yesterday…in front of your friends and the insei….Don't play dumb with me, Shindou!" Everyone in the room was staring at him and that made him even angrier.

"Oh…that…" remembered Hikaru scratching the back of his head "You know Touya….go isn't always about competition, it's about having fun too. Do you have fun when you play go?" said Hikaru smiling.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Go is a serious thing…." started Akira but he was interrupted by Mitani.

"Hikaru is right. I used to play go with my grandfather when I was little, I didn't have a choice. But I never liked it so as soon as grandpa died I stopped playing. Things have changed however when I entered the go club and right now I'm thankful to that obnoxious brat who dragged me here." Hikaru started laughing.

"I told you it'll be good for you to join" Hikaru turned to Akira and continued "Go is important for all of us and we do take it seriously but we also enjoy playing it. When I play with my friends, when I watch them grow, it makes me happy." Akira fisted his hands, stared at Hikaru for a few moments then rushed out of the room like a storm.

Hikaru was right. Go meant only competition for him. The only person he enjoyed playing was his father. They used to play a game every evening, before bedtime, but now his father was more in China than in Japan…. He really missed those games, the excitement.

He remembered telling his father that he considered him his rival. He was only four at the time. His father laughed and put a hand on top of Akira's head.

"_You shouldn't look for rivals in your teachers. You should look for rivals among the children your age. True rivals are people who understand you the most."_

"_But you understand me, don't you father?"_

"_I understand your game and I try to understand you too Akira but I'm too old to completely understand a four year old boy, even if that boy is you, my son."_

"_But…kids like me don't play go…"_

"_One day you will find someone your age who feels about go the way you do. This world is big Akira, don't loose hope."_

That day has come and he didn't want to loose the person he had found, the one who was meant to be his rival.

Ogata was trying to tell him something but he wasn't ready to listen. Now he knew that if he wanted to play Hikaru again he had to become his friend….and that was scary….

-

A few days had passed and Akira wasn't ready to face Hikaru again. What was he supposed to say? "You know Shindou I never had any friends of my age. The insei hate me, the boys in Kaio's go club hate me too… and I don't really consider the players in my fathers study group as friends." That wouldn't work. Or something like "You know Shindou I never had any friends and the truth is that I don't know how to make any." That would definitely not work and being stubborn and selfish like always is out of question. Hikaru would just leave again. Maybe he could just let Hikaru lead the conversation for once.

That day was Saturday and Akira didn't know where to find Hikaru so he decided to go at his father's go salon and talk to Hikaru on Monday. So it was settled. He grabbed his jacket and left the house.

He was just leaving the station when a voice behind him called his name.

"Touya!" shouted Hikaru.

"Shindou!?" he answered a bit surprised.

"How about we go for a walk, I want to talk to you." Akira had an urge to demand a game and to drag Hikaru in the salon but he fought it. Instead he answered.

"Sure. What is it that you want to talk about?"

"I haven't seen you in the past few days. I thought that maybe…I don't know…something was wrong."

"Everything's fine." Akira was a bit surprised to see that Hikaru cared about him after all.

"Ne, Touya, why don't you come to play with us at the institute this Friday?"

"You want me to come?"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't silly" Hikaru said smiling. Akira was about to say something about that last word in Hikaru's sentence but he realized that Hikaru didn't mean to offend him. "So what do you say?"

"Maybe I shouldn't."

"Why?"

"Waya will be there and…he doesn't really like me."

"I'll talk to him if you want me to."

"Shindou…why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" asked Hikaru clueless.

"Why did you come here and why do you act so friendly?"

"Because I want us to be friends, all of us. The others don't feel that way yet, I just hope that in time they will change their mind. I hope you will change your mind too Touya."

Akira thought for a moment. This was his big opportunity so he thought to give it a try maybe it won't be that bad.

"My parents are in China for a few more days so maybe…you would like to come over tomorrow…if you don't have anything else scheduled that is. We could play go and….you can call your friends too if they want to come."

"That sounds great, I'd love too. You know Touya, you're the only one who got a one color go game so far except for my sensei. I want us to play like that again."

"What do you mean by 'take the game so far' I won didn't I?"

"That's because I underestimated you. I thought that you never played one color go before so I went easy on you."

"I never played that way before, it was my first time."

"Anyway next time I'll win for sure. We can also play speed go and blind go…." Hikaru went on but Akira wasn't listening anymore. He was happy with way things turned out. He had a feeling that he won't regret this little 'party' at his place if Hikaru was there, he felt that nothing could bother him, not even Waya.

-

The next day came sooner than he wanted. There were so many things to do before Hikaru and others came, so Akira got out of bed and went to take a shower. After he got dressed he went to get the gobans from the closet and make some tea when he heard the doorbell. Hikaru was standing in front of the door with two heavy bags.

"Hey Touya can you help me with these?" Hikaru handed him one of the bags "Thanks. Where do you want me to put this one?"

"In the kitchen, what's in here anyway?"

"I thought that maybe you didn't know how to throw a party and you needed some help. I bought some cola and orange juice, snacks, popcorn…"

"How can you eat this stuff?" he said looking in the bag "And by the way this is not a party, it's a study group." Hikaru laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You are always so serious, Touya, relax a bit. Try to have fun for once. This is not your father's study group anymore it's more like a group of friends who love to play go. Now help me with these. Everyone else will be here soon and everything should be ready by then."

"Shindou? It's just my curiosity but…how did you convince the others to come."

"I didn't. They all agreed to come, except for Waya but Isumi took care of that. Oh and Ochi said he would come too. Sorry but he overheard our conversation and there was nothing I could do…"

"That's fine I don't mind him being here. He is a good player and he might even learn something."

"You know that he admires you a lot." The doorbell rang again and Akira went to open the door. He never expected so many people to show up but sure enough there they were: Waya, who was complaining that Isumi and Hikaru dragged him there, Isumi, who was trying to convince Waya to bear with it for Hikaru's sake, Tsutsui, Mitani and Ochi with a determined look on his face.

They were all there, they all came for him and somehow this made Akira feel less lonely than before.

"Now will you play a game with me Shindou?" asked Touya a bit afraid of what the answer might be.

"Not only that I'll play a game with you Touya but I'll kick your ass too" said Hikaru excited.

"We'll see about that." Akira was more confident now.

"I want to play Touya too" interfered Ochi.

"You'll have to wait for your turn" said Hikaru.

"Let them play Shindou. Besides, Touya will finish him quickly and you know what that means. Come and finish the game we started at the club" said Mitani.

"I hope you have a spare bathroom Touya" Waya pointed out.

"Waya, you shouldn't say that" whispered Isumi when Ochi gave Waya a stern look.

The conversation went on even after they all started their games. Everyone was having fun, except for Ochi who locked himself in the bathroom after the first game. They all won and lost games but it didn't matter, it wasn't a competition after all, it was only a game between friends.


End file.
